Michael Fassbender to play role of Kerryman who spearheaded Ireland’s first movie

Michael Fassbender has cemented his position as Hollywood royalty through his roles in “Shame”, “Dangerous Method”, the upcoming “Prometheus” and his various other projects but it seems the Kerryman is home bound to film the story of Ireland’s first full-length feature with sound.

According to reports in the Irish Examiner, Fassbender is set to play the role of the Killarney man, Thomas Cooper who brought the first full-length movie, with sound, to Ireland 75 years ago.

This movie was called “The Dawn” and is described “an Irish melodrama which captured the glamour, romance and tragedy of the War of Independence.”

At the time Cooper was a garage and cinema owner. He also became one of the three writers on the 45-minutes black and white movie. The movie was completed in 1936 and was screened in Dublin, New York and Boston.

Currently the US film distributors is seeking to redistribute the movie while the Irish Film Institute (IFI) has become to re-master it.

Ireland’s Arts and Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan is apparently receptive to supporting the idea of a film on Cooper. Recently the minister opened a Dawn Film Trail in Kerry.

Co-incidentally the original script of the movie by DDA Moriarty and Donal Cahill, along with Cooper, was found late last year. The script was typed in black ink by Babs Morris, Cooper’s secretary.

Other artefacts also emerged such as an old camera. These finds will be housed in the state-owned Killarney House, across from the cinema.

Despite the good news that the movie may be having a resurgence, being aired once more and a possible remake with Fassbender the is also technical difficulties surround the old movie footage.

Currently only four copies of the movie are in existence and one of those is held by the British Film Institute.

Meanwhile, a new age dawns for the iconic film, with technical basics having to be addressed with some urgency. Also a screening of the movie last year found that the film was extremely fragile.